I read about these giant yellow jacket nests last 
week, but just didn’t feel the need to post about it at the time. Now that a co-worker has sent me an article with a good picture of one of the super-sized nests, I thought it might be time to share. Read over at The Montgomery Adviser about giant yellow jacket nests (giant nests, not giant yellow jackets, by the way) which host up to 100,000 yellow jackets. Typically, entomologists say, they see nests of around 3000 yellow jackets. These super nests, as noted above, have up to 100,000 yellow jackets, and have multiple queens in the hive.
MOBILE — To the bafflement of insect experts, gigantic yellow jacket nests have started turning up in old barns, unoccupied houses, cars and underground cavities across the southern two-thirds of Alabama.
. . .
At one site in Barbour County, the nest was as large as a Volkswagen Beetle, said Andy McLean, an Orkin pesticide service manager in Dothan who helped remove it from an abandoned barn about a month ago.
. . .
Entomologist Dr. Charles Ray at the Alabama Cooperative Extension System in Auburn said he’s aware of about 16 of what he described as “super-sized” nests in south Alabama.
Ray said he’s seen 10 of them and cautioned people about going near them because of the yellow jacket’s painful sting.
For the record, I don’t believe I have to be warned to stay away from a nest of yellow jackets that is the size of a car or a barn. I used to work with a guy who said yellow jackets were hornets with a bad attitude and a mean streak. That seems about right. Oh, and while these folks don’t offer guidance on dealing with 100,000 yellow jacket nests, at Do Your Own Pest Control you can get some guidance on ridding yourself of these pests.
[tags]Super-size my yellow jacket nest, 100K yellow jackets in a car[/tags]